A SAILOR branded Captain Calamity over his mishaps at sea has been rescued again - after going out on a "floating wardrobe".

Stuart Hill was plucked to safety from a boat he'd made from plywood.

And fed-up rescuers last night slammed hapless Hill as a menace who is putting lives at risk.

Hill, 65, has been the bane of coastguards around the UK for years. This is the eighth time he's been rescued.

It happened late on Sunday when Hill was trying to get back to the tiny Shetland island where he's been living.

Hill has declared the 2.5-acre island of Forewick Holm the independent state of Forvik. But his ramshackle boat was swamped by waves as he tried to return from the mainland and he drifted off towards the Atlantic.

Hill managed to raise the alarm on a mobile phone and the Shetland coastguard helicopter found him by searchlight before the lifeboat picked him up.

Rescuer Hylton Henry hit out at Hill and insisted he was fortunate to be alive. The cox of Aith lifeboat said: "He was very lucky.

"He didn't have a lifejacket on or a VHF radio. He had a flare but couldn't use it and by the time we got there, his mobile phone battery was flat.

"He was difficult to find because his boat had sunk by then and he was sitting on the surface of the water in it in the dark.

"The stretch of water where we found him is one of the most treacherous in Britain. If it had been a worse night, he wouldn't have survived."

Mr Henry added: "The description of the boat was a wardrobe on its back floating in the water - and that was pretty accurate. It's a humble thing and totally unsuitable for the conditions.

"Now that winter is coming, I hope he realises it is not safe to do what he is doing. He will be putting other lives at risk by going out to rescue him. If he carries on like this, he will need rescuing again, there is no doubt of that."

Hill, from Essex, hit the headlines in 2001 while trying to circumnavigate the UK in a 15ft rowing boat. He ended up being rescued seven times and settled in Shetland after the last one.

Yesterday, Hill said he thought he had "taken the best precautions".

He added: "Forvik is not the easiest place to get on and off. I just didn't reckon on that amount of swell causing that much of a problem."